Autos drive markets higher

After a lacklustre trading for most part of the day markets rebounded in late trades to end higher on Wednesday led by auto and financial shares.

The 30-share Sensex ended up 75 points at 18,505 and the Nifty ended up 22 points at 5,620.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei share average advanced on Wednesday as investors took comfort that some firms, such as Hitachi Ltd and Komatsu Ltd, did not cut their full-year earnings guidance as feared.

The Nikkei rose 1% to end at 8,928. The Hang Seng ended up 1% while the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.3%.

European shares were trading firm amid encouraging earnings from Germany's airline major Lufthansa. The FTSE-100 was trading flat while the CAC-40 and DAX were both up 0.6% each.

Among the sectoral indices on the BSE, Health Care, Auto, Realty, Metal and Bankex indices were up 0.6-1.4% followed by IT and COnsumer Durables indices. FMCG, Oil and Gas and Capital Goods indices were among the top losers.

Financials rebounded from Tuesday's lows after the RBI disappointed the street by keeping key policy rates unchanged. HDFC, SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank ended up 0.1-1.7% each.

Tata Motors was among the top Sensex gainers which ended up 2.8% at Rs 255 on reports that the company has signed an agreement with US-based Westport Innovations Inc to develop an engine for its commercial vehicle range.

Maruti Suzuki ended up 3% at Rs 1,436, extending its previous day's 2% gain on reporting a better-than-expected net profit of Rs 227 crore for the second quarter as against analyst estimate of Rs 175 crore due to mark-to-market gain of Rs 43 crore on commodities. Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto too gained 0.4-1.2% each.

Dr Reddy's Labs ended up 2% at Rs 1,757, extending its previous day's around 2% gain after reporting a better-than-expected 32% year-on-year (yoy) jump in net profit at Rs 407 crore in September 2012 quarter on back of strong performance by its pharmaceutical-services

and U.S. generic-drugs businesses.

FMCG majors were among the top Sensex losers on profit taking after recent gains. Hindustan Unilever ended down 0.6% and ITC closed 0.4% lower. Among capital goods shares, L&T was ended down 0.8% at Rs 1,625.

Exploration major ONGC ended down 1.7% at Rs 268 on concerns of deepwater well leakage in Krishna Godavari (KG) basin for last two months could delay hydrocarbon production. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse downgraded state-run explorer to 'underperform' from 'neutral', citing rising risks to earnings in fiscal 2012-13, despite noting the stock continues to trade as a discount to global peers, the Reuters report suggests.

Among other shares,TV Today Network soared 14.7% to end at Rs 84 on reports that the Aditya Birla group may buy a majority 51% stake in its holding company Living Media.

J&K Bank has surged 9.4% to end at Rs 1,225 after reporting a better-than-expected 35% year-on-year (yoy) jump in net profit at Rs 270 crore for the second quarter ended September 2012. Analyst on an average expected profit of Rs 226 crore from the private sector bank. Total income grew 29% at Rs 1,592 crore on y-o-y basis.

Glenmark Pharma has surged 7.9% to end at Rs 427 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), after reporting about three-fold jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 157 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2012, mainly on account of robust sales across all segments.Gl

In the broader markets, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices ended marginally up 0.5-0.9%.

The market breadth ended positive after 1,483 stocks gained while 1,302 stocks declined on the BSE.